Photography of a subject has traditionally been accomplished by using still image cameras to capture individual photographs. One type of still image camera is a film camera that utilizes a light sensitive photographic film or plate to capture a photograph. With a film camera, photographs are captured and stored on photographic film. Another type of still image camera is a digital camera that utilizes an electronic image sensor to capture images that are then stored in a digital storage medium. Digital cameras have largely replaced film cameras in the market.
Digital video camera technology has become more widespread, particularly in consumer products. One of the factors contributing to this is the inclusion of digital video cameras in many mobile phones, including in most smartphones. Most, if not all, of these digital video cameras are low quality, however, and are not suitable for capturing high quality video. In addition to capturing video, many digital video cameras can also be operated to save a single frame of a video as a still image. However, such images are typically much lower quality than can be obtained from a still image camera.
Even if high quality photography equipment is used, other factors can also lead to less-than ideal photographs. One of these factors is the difficulty in capturing a photograph at the precise moment when the subject has the best facial expression. Experienced photographers can learn to anticipate when the best facial expression is about to occur, but less experienced photographers can struggle to capture the best facial expression. Similarly, different subjects also have differing reactions to the photographic environment, resulting from different aptitudes, education, and experiences with photography, and as a result, it can be difficult for a photographer to predict the exact moment of the best expression. Capturing a photograph only a moment before or a moment after a good facial expression results in a lower quality photograph than could otherwise have been obtained.
Another factor that influences the quality of photographs is an unnatural environment. If a subject does not feel comfortable in the environment, it is difficult for the subject to have a natural and pleasant looking expression. The typical photography session has various aspects that can feel unnatural to the subject, such as sudden bright flashes of light, and the hurried manner in which photographs are sometimes taken.
It is sometimes desirable to initially capture a photograph of a subject with a certain background, but to later replace that background in the photograph with a different background image. High quality techniques have been developed for replacing the background in a photograph captured by still image cameras. Techniques for replacing the background in a video, however, are typically limited to lower quality chroma key compositing (also known as greenscreen or bluescreen) techniques.
There is a need for a video photography system that can be used to capture high quality photographs for use in still image or video products.